The Fort Lauderdale district, as the IRS calls it, will be responsible for activities in 17 counties, from Indian River to the northeast and Sarasota on the northwest, south to Monroe. Included are Broward, Palm Beach and Dade counties.

The core staff already has set up quarters at 1 University Drive, Plantation, where the full staff will be next summer, officials said. The jobs bring the number of IRS employees in Florida to about 1,000.

Previously, the Jacksonville office served the entire state. Now, Florida is one of seven states that has been split in two, said Ann Carroll, an IRS spokesman in the Jacksonville office.

``Compliance is the major issue. By putting senior-level administrators nearby, at hand, we will be able to put more time in compliance issues,`` Carroll said.

IRS figures show that 51 percent of all Florida tax returns come from those 17 counties and South Florida`s growth rate was 3.4 times the national average, so ``the logical place to go was in that area,`` Carroll said.

The Fort Lauderdale district is directed by Merlin W. Heye, who was director of the entire state.

The field workers in branch offices, such as in the U.S. District Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, will be unaffected, Carroll said.

Taxpayers also will not be affected, filing returns directly to the IRS regional office in Atlanta.

Customer and walk-in services will be unaffected, although a walk-in facility will be added to the Plantation office when it is fully open next summer, Carroll said.